GAZA CITY, Palestine
Palestinian Christians taking shelter in the St. Porphyrius Church in Gaza City, which witnessed great destruction as a result of Israel's violent attacks, said they pray for the war to end.
Israeli attacks, which have been going on for more than three months, have destroyed the bells of the St. Porphyrius Church, which dates back to 425 AD and is considered the third-oldest church in the world.
Nowadays, no church bells are heard, only warplanes and bombing sounds.
Christian denominations following the Eastern calendar, including the Orthodox denomination, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6-7 every year.
Approximately 70% of Christians in the Gaza Strip belong to the Greek Orthodox denomination, while the rest are of the Latin Catholic denomination.
The joy that Palestinian Christians feel during the holidays has been replaced by grief over their losses and fear and anxiety regarding their future.
Christians in the Gaza Strip, like all other Palestinians, could not escape Israel's devastating attacks and heavy and intense bombardment, which led to the death of many.
Prayers for war to end
Rimon Kattan, 45, took shelter in the St. Porphyrius Church with about 20 of his relatives due to Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.
"Christian families took shelter in churches, the houses of God, to protect themselves from the bombardment,” Kattan told Anadolu.
“We no longer dream of anything other than the end of the war,” he said, adding: “The holiday is a sacred day for us, but the end of the war is now more important.”
Kattan said he hopes that the Gaza Strip will see peace soon.
No celebrations due to Israeli attacks
Kattan emphasized that Israeli attacks prevented Christians living in Gaza from attending the Christmas celebrations held at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
“Gazan Christians used to pass through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing with Israel's permission and attend the celebrations held at the Nativity Church,” Kattan said.
"We would turn on the church lights, pray on the night of the holiday, visit family and friends, and go to places to celebrate,” he recalled.
The Palestinian Christians announced the cancelation of all Christmas celebrations, including not lighting Christmas trees for the first time in Palestine's history since the Nakba of 1948.
Exodus of Christians from Palestine
Issa Thaljieh, a Greek Orthodox priest in the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, said Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip caused the exodus of Christians from Palestine.
“Jesus Christ's message of love and peace was sent to the world from Bethlehem, but today there is no peace in his own land,” he told Anadolu.
“The situation is currently very difficult, massacres are carried out against children, people are killed, and the survivors are trying to live without food, water and shelter,” Thaljieh said, stressing that “all of this is happening for no reason.”
“The number of Christians in the Gaza Strip has decreased due to wars, and it has decreased in Bethlehem due to economic hardship,” he said.
Thaljieh pointed out that “the Israeli army bombed mosques, churches, hospitals and houses in Gaza,” adding that “there is no safe place in the region anymore.”
"Our prayers are with Gaza. Our hearts are with our people there,” the priest said.
Attacks on churches
Israeli attacks have targeted a number of churches in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli sniper on Dec. 16 killed a mother and her daughter and injured seven others in the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, said the local Latin Catholic Church authority.
Moreover, the St. Porphyrius Church was bombed by Israel on Oct. 19, where 18 Palestinians, most of them children and women, lost their lives.
The casualties included both Christian and Muslim Palestinians sheltering in the church.
At least three churches were severely damaged due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, according to previous statements by the government media office in Gaza.
Christmas, one of the oldest holidays in Christianity, is celebrated on Dec. 25 by Protestants, Catholics and some Orthodox Christians who follow the Gregorian calendar, and on Jan. 7 by Orthodox Christians who follow the Julian calendar.
Around 45,000 Christians live in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including 40,000 in the West Bank, 850 in the Gaza Strip, and 4,000 in Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
Israel has launched air and ground attacks on Gaza following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, killing at least 22,835 Palestinians and injuring more than 58,400 others.
Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi
